Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Six Acres of Books, Five Waterfalls, Four Rainstorms, Three Monuments, Two Trips to the Science Museum, One Sick Dog and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

My husband was in a wedding this weekend at a fancy place in the Columbia River Gorge, so the kids and I took the opportunity to hang out in Portland and the Gorge area for a couple of days. When in Portland, it's hard to pass up Powell's City of Books . You just can't beat a bookstore so large that you get a map for when you walk in the door, especially as a homeschooler. I did emphasize that the budget was only there for a couple of books each, so the kids enjoyed agonizing over the many choices for an hour or so, plus they each bought a blank journal to write in on our travels. I got a book on training for the Ironman, that I am alternately thrilled and terrified to start reading (5.5 months and counting until race day).

OMSI now has a robotics exhibit open, and that was great fun, especially for my robotically-fascinated 9 y.o., but going to OMSI on a Saturday and Sunday reminded us of why Homeschooling Is Awesome! We've never been there before when it was so crowded, and after an hour or so in the zoo-like atmosphere, we were ready to bail.

So we took a drive up the old Columbia Gorge highway, to many fabulous waterfalls both big and small. With all of the rain this week, Multnomah Falls was in full roar and looking very impressive at 620 feet tall. We oohed and aahed appropriately. But some of the smaller ones, like Wahkeena Falls were beautiful in their lush greenness and swirling white water, much different from the warmer months later in the year when they are reduced to more of a trickle. Along the way, our dog got sick (repeatedly) from the hotel food scraps we gave him as a breakfast treat, and it alternately poured rain on us and broke out in lovely bursts of sun.

We got lost in the terrible signage of the old Highway, but not before a visit to the recently restored Vista House treated us to its lovely views out over the Gorge. An hour late in picking up DH, we finally staggered into our favorite Portland cheap eats, the Old Spaghetti Factory at around 8:30 pm. Home by 11:00 and the kids and I were all snoozing nicely with poor DH left to drive all by himself.